Hunza lake barrier collapse may cause flash flood

ISLAMABAD (APP) Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Lt-Gen (r) Nadeem Ahmad has said that the purpose of creating the spillway has been achieved so far as the water has started outpouring through it and will increase within next 24 hours. Talking to a private news channel, he said the water outflow will increase after more water enters the lake. The next 24 hours are crucial, he said. The landslide-triggered Attaabad Lake finally started to overflow into the spillway early on Saturday and officials warned that a major flood is imminent. Some officials said the outflow of water through the spillway was about 100 cusecs while others said it was between 200 to 400 cusecs. A senior administration official said the lake barrier can collapse any time, triggering a flash flood downstream. People should therefore not venture into low-lying areas. Chief Minister Gilgit-Baltistan Mehdi Shah while talking to the news channel said their homework was complete and everything would be smooth even if the worst scenario takes place. There is no doubt that the infrastructure will be damaged if the flow is severe but hopefully no loss of life will occur, he said. He said a flash flood cannot be ruled out in the coming hours as erosion in the spillway was taking place slowly. According to the channel, the local administration has started identifying schools and government buildings for shifting of IDPs from relief camps as it is expected that temperature during night at the start of June would fall to 8-10 degrees. A team of doctors that arrived in the area on the directives of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is facing shortage of medicines but efforts are underway to provide necessary kits and medicines to all teams of doctors coming from various areas. Zameer Abbas, Assistant Commissioner of Hunza Nagar, told the channel that they were taking every possible measure to avoid any loss of life and evacuation from all such places which are declared dangerous in new report of Nespak has been completed.